High Court Rejects Reynolds Bid in Altria Patent-Damages Fight

The US Supreme Court declined to review whether juries may award patent damages without separating the value of unpatented features, leaving untouched R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s challenge to Altria Client Services LLC’s $95.2 million e-cigarette verdict.

Reynolds, a unit of British American Tobacco Plc, argued an appeals court wrongly let the Altria Group Inc. subsidiary use unrelated patent licenses to justify the 5.25% royalty rate a jury applied to three e-cigarette patents.

Jurors awarded $95.2 million in past damages and set a framework for royalties through 2035, when the patents expire. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal ...